Come Home
by underanother
Summary: Ana has been abducted, but one year and two months later Christian gets the call he's been waiting for. They've finally found his wife.
1. Lost

**E.L. James owns**

1.

"Mr. Grey, we believe that we have found your wife," the officer on the other end of the line clearly spoke. The simple sentence made my sleep deprived brain kick into high gear. I jump out of bed despite the early morning hour.

Who cares that it's 3:47 in the morning, they found my wife. In my bones I felt it, this time it is her. The police and I have combed through every face and profile of missing women, some have been found but none of them were my Ana. My wife.

"Do you want me to come to the station?" I ask fervently, already getting my clothes on and running down the stairs.

"No, sir, at the hospital… she needs some medical attention."

"When did you find her?"

"Three hours ago."

My stomach dropped. "Why did it take you so long to contact me?"

"We weren't sure… we had to make sure."

"That's fine," I shake my head and let it go… picking my battles. "Thank you, I will be there shortly."

"See you soon."

The line goes dead just as I was out of our door, looking up at our two-storey brick home with olive green shutters. The garden that you cultivated is alive and well, every inch of our house has not changed so when you come home you can see that I've kept it exactly the same. I've held onto you, what I went through was hell but what _you_ came from is completely unfathomable. I wish they took me instead.

Rushing down our quiet neighbourhood, pushing the speed limit and eventually careening into a parking spot, all under eight minutes. I notice two police cars and my father-in-law's sedan parked closely together near the ER dock. When I asked for Ana's hand, Ray made me vow that I find a "stable" job and to not sign up for another tour, I quickly agreed because in all honesty even then Ana was my everything.

To the soldiers I commanded I was First Sergeant Grey for the United States Marine Corps Special Ops and up for another promotion with Delta or Combined Application Group, but the woman who wanted to spend forever with me changed all that. They were _the_ elite of the US army that even the Navy SEALS wanted to be in, they only chose the best of all of the special ops groups but that didn't mean that you were 'in'. There were a couple of physical tests, but a battery of psychological testing. I was one away from enlisting when I met her, my commander was trying to sweeten the pot when I told him that I was not going to be enlisting again. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I good at my job. Probably one of the best, cool under pressure and exact.

I enlisted right after graduating university at twenty-one, but three and a half tours later I met the love of my life. My soul mate. I thought I had it all but then I knew I had nothing before her and now I had everything.

Her father Major General Steele was working at the same military base in Washington as I was at the time, while I was there for my fourteen day R&R. Two days into my stay stateside, I met the enigma that was Anastasia Rose Steele.

She had beautiful mahogany hair that ran down her back, beautiful blue eyes, and a body that I couldn't forget. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on in my entire twenty-four years of existence. Her body had gorgeous curves, toned everywhere but still so soft.

She was perfection.

Unfortunately, our relationship wasn't a cake walk, since she had a no-soldier rule and I was pretty adamant that she let me date her. I don't know why I was so selfish, I knew I had to come back to my company but I knew there was something there. Something more that we shared. But just before my last weekend at home, she finally caved and let me take her out. I don't think I ever had so much fun, we ended up staying out all night and simply getting to know each other. And after that night, we exchanged contact information and had been together ever since.

I ran my hair and the scruff that seemed permanently growing in my face. I can't even remember the last time I shaved it off, it used to be itchy as fuck but eventually I just stopped caring. There was more important shit to attend to, like finding my wife. I ate, trained, and slept, well whenever I wasn't trying to find my wife. For the first six months I dogged everyone, raising the ante, but then I was politely told to stop and to let them do their job.

When I did, but it took another three months for another word about Ana… that's not to say, I didn't do my own while I was told to "take a break" from searching. I lived off my saving for the last nine months, but when money started running out I was told not too nicely by Ray that Ana wouldn't want me living like this.

"Son, you have to stop and let them do their job. The whole country and even Canada knows about Ana. Now all we can do is wait."

"I can't just wait," I replied exasperated.

"Listen, when Ana comes home do you want to be dead broke and unemployed? Is that what you want her to come home to? What I know is that she won't be working for awhile and you need to be able to support her."

"I know, but I just can't stop-"

"Then do it for her, we'll find her. I believe in that, so now you need to buckle down and find real work. You can't always run off on your responsibilities here, fix your house, and re-plant her garden. Just do something so when she comes home she comes home to you."

"You're right. You're right, I have to fix this thing I've created."

"Good, I know I let you marry my daughter for a reason."

Then four months later, the garden that Ana created was thriving with a few more flowers and cherry blossom trees that she always wanted. Two in the front and one in the back, and since spring has just begun the trees were beginning to bloom. I even repainted the house the same colours; fixed everything that wasn't running perfectly well, and most importantly landed a job at an accounting firm in the city.

I was finally turning my life around, and when Ana comes home everything will be perfect. She will have the support she needs to get healthy again, because I rebuilt our home.

Now a year and two months later, I find myself walking into the busy ER, I quickly find Ray talking with Officer Michaels. Taking long strides to meet them quicker.

"Where is she?" I ask, ignoring all pleasantries.

"She's with a doctor," Michaels answers.

"Can I see her?"

"Of course, but-"

"Christian, it's bad," Ray interjects.

"Where is she?"

"They had to sedate her because she was thrashing and endangering herself."

I don't care what state she's in, she's so close I can practically feel my skin tingle from her presence.

"Just let me see her, I need to see her," I almost growl.

"Alright, but it may be hours until she wakes."

"I don't care."

Michaels leads both Ray and I back to Ana's room, a doctor was speaking to the police and nurses were inside with her. I see them wrap her legs up in bandages, but I could barely see anything else. Her long dark hair lay limply on the pillow, her left hand in a cast and a sling, but other than that she was barely visible in the same colour sheets and gown. I hesitated at the door, I don't know why… this was what I had been waiting for, for the last year and two months this is was all I was dreaming of. Well, I didn't dream of her lying in a hospital bed, I imagined that she was just going to find her way home. That her captors let her go, but then again I live in a fairy tale world when I think of her, because from the looks of things that wasn't the case. She's been hurt and worse, I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Ray gives me a pat on the back and moves me forward, just when the doctor re-enters.

"Mr. Grey and Mr. Steele, I'm Doctor Sanders," the middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair greeted us.

"Pleased to meet you," Ray greets, I merely nod.

"It's unfortunate that we had to meet in such grave circumstance," the doctor grimaces.

"Can you tell us what happened to her?" I ask.

"First off, she is suffering for what we call dissociative amnesia, which can last few hours to a few years. We ran the standard tests and found no brain damage, so this was not organic amnesia thus it leads us to believe that she is suffering from her bout of amnesia due to the highly stressful situation she was in.

"We then went from there, and we did a full-body scan. We found a severely broken hand and two ribs that did not heal properly. The former was an obviously easy fix, but the ribs will need to be re-broken so they can be set right. We cleaned her up as much as she would permit us, but of course she was confused and disoriented when she first came in. She doesn't remember much, how she got her scars, how she got herself here other than 'through the woods', she barely remembers her name and the only reason we could place her was having a police officer identify her. There are clear signs of abuse, but without her knowledge we can barely piece together what she went through. I'm so sorry."

All the information broke me, it tore me up and I slumped on the floor. I quickly grab the nearby trashcan and lost the contents of my stomach. I ran my hands over my face, thinking that my wife went through all of that, she fought to get out… they didn't let her leave. After the sorrow cleared from my system, I got up and anger filled my body when I was finally able to see Ana in all her entirety. Her face was battered with bruises and cuts, her right eye was cut and swollen shut, her neck and her right hand has rope burns, there were bruises all over her arms … fingerprints everywhere. I grit my teeth and clench my fists, my wife went through all of that.

I walked up closer to her bed and touched the one spot that did not have a bruise. I pushed her hair out of her face; grabbing the nearby chair I sit myself down. Ray is on the other side, holding Ana's unbroken hand, and I lay my head next to her and begin to cry.

"When is she going to wake up?" Ray asks.

"In a few hours she should be waking up, then we will run more tests," Dr. Sanders answer.

"How long will Ana have to stay?"

"A few more days at least," he sighs. "After resetting her bones, she'll stay just one more day. Then if nothing else comes up, we'll give her the all clear and you'll be free to go."

"Thank you doctor."

Once he exits the room, I wrap my arm around her loosely and try to breathe in her scent. My Anastasia, my wife, and my life. No matter how much shit we have to get through to get to that place we once were, it will be all be wroth it because now I'm whole.

**Please leave a review to let me know if you want me to continue :)**


	2. Found?

**E.L. James owns.**

**Here's another update! So here's the deal my readers, if you want me to update quickly I want to see some reviews! I ain't too proud to beg. Enjoy! ;)**

2.

I'm not crazy and I know that nothing will ever be the same, Ana is not the same woman I married and I'm okay with that. I need her in my life to live, and I will take her any way that I can.

As the hours pass by like days, the sun was already up and Ana barely stirred. Ray has already bought us our fourth cup of coffee when she finally began to wake. I quickly sit up and straighten my clothes, she opens up her eyes groggily and she looks over the room, and for the first time she smiles. _At Ray._

"Daddy?" she rasps out, her vocal cords were strained and from the looks of it, she was strangled. I can see the dark angry bruises around her neck, I could feel my blood boil, but I held it in. I don't want to be the psycho who flips out, that would just make me a selfish fuck that only cares about his own shit.

"Princess," he jumps from his seat and takes her into a hug.

"Why am I here?"

"Sweetheart, you brought yourself here last night," Ray answers softly. She shakes her head in confusion, but remains silent. "Let's get the doctor in so he can explain why you're here."

"_Why_ am I here?"

"What do you remember last?"

"I don't know," she shakes her head. "I remember running through the woods… and going to school? I don't know dad."

"It's okay."

A brief moment of uncertainty passes through the room, then her eyes land on me. And for that brief moment I can feel my heart and stomach flutter, but with such simple statement she shattered my world.

"Who's he?" she asks, turning to her father again.

Fuck me. The realization quickly came to me, my wife doesn't even remember me.

"Uh Ana…" Ray begins.

"I'm your husband… Christian," I answer, hoping that saying my name would make it better…. Yeah, I know I'm being much too hopeful.

"Husband?" she asks, not in a frightened voice per se… more like frantic confusion.

"Yes," I sigh. Taking a small step towards her, but she leans back almost like she's afraid of me.

"Dad, I don't understand… is this a joke?" she asks. "What about Jose?"

This causes both Ray and myself to look at each other; now we both know that something's not right. She's lost more than a year and consequently all of our memories. "What day do you think it is?"

"I don't know… Last thing I remembered was coming home from school and the woods-"

"How old are you?" Ray asks.

Ana gives him a surprised look, "Eighteen-"

"Fuck," I hiss under my breath. Running my hands through my hair, I sat back in my chair. Eighteen-year-old Ana was in pre-med at Yale and had just started dating Jose in one of her classes during her first semester. I wasn't suppose to meet her until the summer before she started John Hopkins in the Fall, oh yeah and I may have missed the fact that she sort of dumped Jose for me.

Okay, they may have been on the outs since he was going to Northwestern for Medical school. There was no "spark" thus keeping up a long distance relationship was pointless, so when I swooped in she didn't want to be unfaithful but at the same time nothing was really truly holding her back. What can I say; I'm a charming motherfucker.

I know how to deal with 21-year old Ana, but not the 18-year old first love Ana. From the stories I heard from her, she was the annoying swoony teenager, therefore this Ana loves Jose or is at least deeply infatuated with him.

Please God, let her come back to me.

"Good morning Anastasia, you're finally awake, I'm Dr. Sanders," he exclaims, I barely even register him coming into the room or even Ray paging him.

"Hello," she replies quietly.

As the doctor goes through the same speech as last night, her face falls and begins sobbing. The fat tears are rolling down her cheeks and her much too frail body shakes with the power of her cries. The only thing I could think about was wrapping my arms around her and making all of her pain goes away, but I can't, because she doesn't know me.

Fuck my life.

When Ana finally calms she was ushered to do her battery of tests, I slumped into the chair and ran my hands through my hair. I don't even know where to even go with this, after Ana gets discharged where will she go, Ray or me? I know that I don't want to push her into anything and maybe going with her father would be a better decision, because to her she would be going home with a practical stranger.

"Mr. Steele, Anastaisa is looking for you," one of the nurses came in and informed him.

Not me.

"Okay," he nods, and then turns to me. "I'll talk to her and we'll figure out how to do this. Why don't you clean up and come back, grab us something to eat."

"All right."

I robotically got myself home and showered. Once I was finally finished I quickly went to the diner and brought some stuff for both Ray and I, then rushing back to the hospital. Ana may not know who I was, but now that I know where she was I'm not letting her go for longer than necessary.

"Hello Mr. Grey," Dr. Sanders greets me. "This is Dr. Or, he's neurologist that will be taking on your wife's case."

"Pleased to meet you," Dr. Or shakes my hand.

"You too."

"I've talked to your father-in-law, and I think we should go through it with you as well."

"Of course," I reply and walk with them to his office. "Is Ana okay?" I ask, once I was sat in one of his chairs.

"Yes, she's doing great considering…." He answers. "She does need to have her ribs fixed, so she will be staying at here for another few days. All of her tests are coming back and they look good, obviously not stellar, but there isn't any permanent damage. In the meantime we'll have her on a liquid diet until her body can take solid food."

Dr. Or then interjects and begins talking about Ana's prognosis. "Right now our main problem is getting her up to a normal body weight, everything will heal in time and I'm certain she will get all of her memories back in time. Now, when this finally happens you will be dealing with post-traumatic disorder and many other psychological traumas.

"I suggest that you be the one to take care of her in the home you two share. It will not be easy, she will not act like herself, and she may act like a child and be aggressive. You will have to understand where she's coming from of course, she won't remember her name, the date, or even what she ate the night before. The brain always takes the longest to heal, you just have to be there to support her and take care of her. And more often than not she will become frustrated and lash out at you-"

"I can handle that," I interrupt quickly.

"We have full confidence in you, Christian, I know you love your wife," Dr. Sanders replies.

"She's my life and I'll do anything to get her back."

Dr. Or nods, "You must understand that she may have lost some of her memories permanently, but I'm positive she will be okay and make a full recovery. She's a strong woman... So now, during this disorientation period Ana can become extremely agitated and resist attempts to calm her. This is understandable; just imagine what she's going through. She's unconsciously and frantically trying to sort through her lifetime of experiences and reconcile them with her current infant-like condition. Some patients become so aggressive that they can be uncontrollable and must be medicated to be able to calm down. Others even become psychotic, experiencing delirium and/ or hallucinatinations."

Dr. Or looks up at me and I know my face has paled and he smiles to reassure me.

"That's the worst of it," he chuckles lightly. "Patients like Ana are utterly confused by their situation. Seeking some explanation for their plight, they may mix imagination and memory to create a sometimes fantastic scenario. This is just her way of finding logic behind her confusion. Sometimes they believe that the medical staff is their family or her guards who have imprisoned for bad behaviour.

"The first few weeks will be the most challenging, she will be in pain and the utter bewilderment will drive her crazy. She can be sweet and serene one moment, frantic and combative the next. You'll never know what to expect.

"Slowly the disorientation and fear will ease and she will grow to trust you, and that you will not harm her. Fortunately, she has retained most of her childhood memories, thus we only have to get her to reconcile with the fact that she is a married adult."

"What should I do, I understand everything you've said but now I'm more lost than before," I groan.

"With patience and persistence, you can guide her through the fog in her brain. But you must be careful, though, and do not confront or argue with her. Consistent behaviour and steady assurances are important. The best environment for her would be little to no stimulation. Here's a little guidebook on how to deal with taking her home and I have some books on hand that I can recommend for your situation."

I quickly grab his booklet and read through the first page:

_Always identify yourself when you enter her room. _

_Tell her that this is morning, afternoon, or evening, to help her orient to time. _

_Warn her when you are going to touch her. _

_When she trusts you, talk about her favourite things and pleasant, shared experiences. _

_Talk about her pre-injury life, but avoid suggesting tat she will need to create a new life. _

_Show her photos of familiar people._

_Surround her with familiar objects. _

_Tell her she's been injured and is in the hospital. Repeat this often. Assure her that she is safe from harm now._

_If you're not already keeping a journal, begin now. You'll probably spend more time with her than anyone else. You may be the first to spot significant changes in her behaviour. Alerting myself to these changes makes you a valuable member of her medical team._

_Don't ask her to recall her injury, she can't and this certainly will frustrate her._

_Most importantly, be patient. Neurological healing takes time, a lot of time. _

_Don't take any of your survivor's hurtful words or actions personally. This can be a challenge, especially if she is swearing at everyone who approaches or takes a swing at you when you try to comfort her. _

"Thank you," I say, without looking up.

"If you have any questions I'll give you my home phone number for emergencies," Dr. Or exclaims, handing me his business card.

When I finally get back to Ana's room, the weight of our ordeal comes crashing down and I'm completely exhausted. I just want my Ana back, how am I going to manoeuvre my way around this? Give me a bomb and a pair of nail clippers and I'll be okay, but this… this is something I'm not sure I could get around. I don't want to mess her up even more that she is. I want to be able to wrap my arms around her and lay with her, now I don't think she'll even let me give her a hug.

But no matter what, I will be by her side, 'til death do us part.

"Christian, you're back," Ray greets, "where's the food?"

"Oh sorry, it's over there," I motion to the side table. "It's probably really cold… I would have brought it back sooner but Ana's doctors wanted to talk to me."

"Yeah me too," he replies. "I'll just heat this up, Ana is coming back in fifteen minutes. She's had a long day, so maybe you shouldn't get into anything heavy. You should introduce yourself; I've briefly talked about you. I think she handled it well, but she's still bewildered. Who knows what and when this will really sink in for her?"

"You know I'm going to do my best."

"I know you will and I'll be there everyday. And what about your work, son?"

"I gave them notice, and my boss has given me three weeks leave. Then, I'll try to get shorten my hours after that, but life as an accountant usually isn't very exciting and I think I'll get it."

"Christian, you'll do fine. I trust you."

"Thank you."

"Daddy?" Ana's soft voice rang through the room.

My Ana.

"Hello princess," Ray smiles jovially.

"Hi," she looks at me square in the face. "… Christian."

I radiated sunshine, my face split into the widest grin I had ever had.

"Hello, Ana," I reply, stumbling with my own two feet to get to her. Though when she saw me stand up, she cringed a little and backed slightly. I stagger back as my smile wavers.

"I'm going to heat up my food, I'll be right back," Ray excuses himself and walks out.

Once Ana has been placed back in bed, a soft smile plays on her lips.

"Ana, I know that this is really confusing, but I just want you to know that I only want what's best for you."

"Listen, Christian. My father tells me that you're my husband and I'm a twenty-six year old woman, but the last thing I remember was being eighteen and still having feelings for…"

"I understand, we'll go slow okay? I promise. I'm here for you," I cut her short. I don't need to hear about Jose at the moment.

"Thank you," she replies softly. Then, her eyes droop down and all too soon our conversation ends, and she's fast asleep.

_Dear God, please bring her back to me._


End file.
